A group of scientists achieved a key breakthrough in the field of brain cryopreservation. For the first time, researchers were able to restore some of the activity in the brain tissue of frozen mice
.As reported in the scientific journal Nature, the study shows that certain neural processes can recover after deep freezing. Although it is still far from the “cryosleep” ideas of science fiction, the finding opens up new possibilities for medicine
.
A step closer to preserving the human brain
The idea of freezing a person to wake them up in the future is a science fiction classic. However, science is only now beginning to get closer to understanding how to preserve and recover brain tissue activity.
Until now, different studies had shown that neural cells could survive freezing. The problem was that, after defrosting them, it was not possible to fully recover key brain processes
.Among them are:
The electrical activity of neurons.
Cellular metabolism.
Brain plasticity, essential for learning and memory.
The new study managed to maintain some of these functions after the freezing and thawing process
.The experiment that reactivated frozen mouse brains
The research was carried out by a team of scientists in Germany and was published on March 3 in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The work was led by neurologist Alexander German, from the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg.
The researchers used a technique known as vitrification, a method that allows tissues to be frozen without ice crystals forming
.During the experiment, the scientists worked with mouse brain fragments approximately 350 micrometers thick. These samples included the hippocampus, a key brain region linked to memory and spatial orientation
.How they froze and thawed brain tissue The
procedure included several carefully controlled steps:
